Eight new schools delayed in Calgary as province gives up on private sector

Matt McClure, Calgary Herald06.19.2014

Wednesday’s announcement means the provincial government will fall short on a key election promise to build 50 new schools and modernize 70 others before the fall of 2016. “I’m disappointed, but the past is the past and now let’s move on and get these schools built as fast as we can,” Infrastructure Minister Wayne Drysdale told reporters.

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Completion of eight schools in fast-growing Calgary suburbs will likely be delayed by a year after the province decided a traditional procurement process will be cheaper than partnering with the private sector.

The surprise announcement by Infrastructure Minister Wayne Drysdale on Wednesday means the Conservatives will fall short on a key election promise to build 50 new facilities and modernize 70 others before the fall of 2016.

“I’m disappointed, but the past is the past and now let’s move on and get these schools built as fast as we can,” Drysdale told reporters.

“We’re not that far behind, but we will lose some time and that’s why we’re saying 2017.”

The decision is also a reversal of the government’s position that it would stick with a public-private partnership process to construct 19 elementary and junior highs, despite the revelation last fall that the initial tender had only attracted a single bidder.

“This P3 contract is not done,” Drysdale told the legislature last October.

“We haven’t reneged on nothing.”

Despite an overheated construction market, the province had hoped the P3 process it had used frequently in the past would be the cheapest and quickest way to build and maintain desperately needed schools in new communities across the province.

But then the lone bidder — Calgary’s Gracorp Capital and Graham construction — submitted a price for the P3 schools this spring that was $14 million more than a public-sector comparison figure prepared by government officials and vetted by outside consultants.

“We could have done it and spent more money,” said Drysdale, “but I wanted to do what’s right for the students and the taxpayers.”

Wildrose education critic Bruce McAllister said the government should have listened to industry feedback last fall and abandoned a failed procurement method in favour of smaller traditional tenders that would attract interest from more construction companies.

“You didn’t need Matlock to figure out the P3 process wouldn’t work in this market,” McAllister said.

“We’ve got a lot of signs up in empty fields, but no new schools.”

Deron Bilous, New Democrat education and infrastructure critic, said the government’s “bullheadedness” in persisting with a broken P3 model for school procurement means children in new suburbs will now face bigger class sizes and longer bus rides due to the delay.

“This is not the way to lead a province and provide the critical infrastructure that Albertans need,” Bilous said.

The Calgary schools affected are:

Copperfield (public);

Evanston (public);

New Brighton (public);

Royal Oak (public);

Saddle Ridge (public);

Auburn Bay (separate);

Evanston (separate);

A replacement building for the francophone district in Martindale.

Drysdale said the province is willing to provide grants to local boards if they are prepared to take over the job of tendering and managing the projects now, but otherwise department staff will handle the job.

Mary Martin, chairwoman with Calgary’s separate board, said she was not surprised the province was abandoning a process that only attracted a single bidder.

Martin said her district is now willing to take over designing and tendering the facilities.

“We’ve done this kind of work in the past and we’re confident we can do it moving forward.”

Administrators with the Calgary Board of Education, who are already overseeing construction of six other schools announced in February, said they will now hold discussions with the province about taking on the five facilities that were pledged more than a year ago as part of the P3 process.

“Current project plans and status” and “financial matters” will be the focus of the talks, according to a prepared statement. A recommendation on how to proceed will be presented to elected officials “as soon as possible.”

Amber Stewart, a CBE trustee in the city’s southeast where most existing schools are already at or near capacity, said she was surprised by the province’s announcement.

“Our system is growing by over 3,000 students a year and we’re going to continue to get more and more full,” Stewart said.

“I think we need to look at every solution out there to get these spaces as quickly as possible.”

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Eight new schools delayed in Calgary as province gives up on private sector

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